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Fundraiser to sell pumpkins to help send volunteers with hurricane recovery

Appalachia Service Project is raising funds to get local high schoolers down to North Carolina to help with hurricane relief.

CLARKS SUMMIT, Pa. — Some have bumps and lumps. Others have different colors.

"People love our green ones that look soft and velvety over there," said Susan Wittman of Appalachia Service Project.

However, each pumpkin that sits in the Clarks Summit United Methodist Church parking lot will help raise money for the Appalachia Service Project.

"We take high school students to repair homes. We do roofs, additions, sometimes porches, a lot of wheelchair ramps, siding to make homes warmer, safer, and drier," said Wittman.

For the past 25 years, Susan Wittman has taken hundreds of students from the Abingtons to complete service projects in Appalachia.

This year, the trip south means a little more, as Wittman and volunteers will work in areas affected by Hurricane Helene.

"It will benefit a lot of homes," said Wittman. "Appalachia Service project is working in the areas right now, and that's actually their base in Johnson City, Tennessee, and they were affected by the flooding."

A walk through the temporary pumpkin patch will see many ready for the front porch.

"We also have a lot of really nice carving pumpkins right now," said Wittman.

Or perhaps something for the inside, like a mini pumpkin or gourd. 

However, each sold will help the service group get closer to reaching its fundraising goal.

Each dollar helps send, feed, and house volunteers.

"They will see a lot of things they don't see in the Abington Area, all the destruction," said Wittman. "They also just see how the people live, how they help each other, and what it takes to bring a community back."

Appalachia Service Project's Pumpkin Sale Fundraiser is open 7 days a week and runs through October 31st in Lackawanna County.

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